Vector Hawk, a new "cannister" drone made by Lockheed Martin, will deploy to support U.S. maritime forces and can be reconfigured to take on different missions. The Combating Terrorism Technical Support Office is investing $4.6 million in developing this small drone compact enough to fit into a backpack and be carried by a warfighter. In addition to launching via canister, this little drone can also be launched by hand.

Smart and autonomous, Vector Hawk can fly and land by itself even f the operator or ground station loses contact with the drone. The third version features vertical takeoff and landing and there is also a tilt-rotor version that gives it VTOL and then transitions into forward flight.

The rules approved by the City Council Aviation Committee set extensive prohibitions on where the drones can legally fly. They create no-fly zones of 5 miles around O'Hare and Midway airports. They also prohibit the devices from being piloted over churches, schools, hospitals and any other property not owned by the drone operator without the owner's consent, or "over any person who is not involved in the operation of the small unmanned aircraft, without such person's consent."

"This is a brand-new industry of brand-new activity, and we're going to have to play it by ear for a while and depend on experts who will provide us with information, and the Police Department, which I believe is certainly able to enforce these ordinances," Alderman Edward Burke

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